According to a recent Deloitte report on digital media trends, 47 percent of Americans now watch free ad-supported streaming TV services, or “FASTs.” FASTS are any free, ad-supported streaming video service that may include on-demand, linear programming, or both. 

The linear TV aspect of FASTS is essentially a free version of cable TV that mimics the lean-back experience of linear TV, with a programming grid. Some of the most popular FAST services include Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel, Peacock, Samsung TV+, and Xumo.

CNBC reports that traditional media executives expect about 25 million U.S. households to cancel their longstanding pay-TV subscriptions over the next five years, providing the assumption many of these consumers will seek free, ad-supported alternatives.

The pandemic has much to do with these changes, but as the Deloitte survey mentions, “the COVID-19 story isn’t so much “before and after” as it is “before and FASTer.”

While the average US home now subscribes to four OTT video services, the costs of stacking multiple subscription-based offerings are too much for many consumers. As a result, more consumers are canceling services for those they find to suit their interests at any given moment. On the contrary, you never really cancel a FAST, and Deloitte’s market research found that 37% of consumers enjoy the variety of content options available to them on free streaming services. 

Pluto TV has a global reach of nearly 36 million monthly active users, with 28.4 million in the United States, and Tubi saw its viewership jump 58 percent (to 2.5 billion hours) in 2020. Its audience reach is almost 80 percent greater than the top 25 cable networks. 

The success of FASTS can be attributed to:

Carry lower ad-loads than pay TV’s average of 12 minutes and 12 seconds per hour

BYOD (Bring your own device) FASTS are available on every mobile and Connected TV device and come pre-installed on many smart TV platforms such as Samsung, LG, Roku, and Vizio, which significantly increases their adoption

So while the business model of linear TV (paying $200 per month for access to a certain number of linear channels) is dying, linear TV as a viewing experience is proving to be as popular as ever.

Suppose you are a video content distributor with a wealth of content you’d like to get eyeballs on. In that case, you’re probably wondering how FASTS and ad-supported linear streaming can improve your OTT distribution strategy.

A FAST channel is a linear channel that appears on a free, ad-supported streaming TV service. Like its cable channel counterpart, a FAST channel is delivered in a scheduled manner. For example, if a viewer wants to watch a specific show, such as the original Unsolved Mysteries series, the viewer must tune into the channel at a particular time. The content on FAST channels generally falls into three broad buckets;  older TV shows or movies, packaged digital-first video clips, and streaming services leveraging library content to make their owned-and-operated services stand out, such as ViacomCBS using Pluto to promote two of its series, “Clarice” and “The Equalizer.”

Contingent upon many factors, including channel placement, ad fill rate, average CPM, content quality, duration, refresh rate, FAST channels can generate anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000+ in gross monthly revenue.

Each FAST service offers a mix of its own 24/7 curated linear channels in addition to channels that third-party content distributors operate. When considering FAST as part of your distribution strategy, here’s what you need to know.

These are channels that are curated and operated by the FAST service. For example, Xumo’s Action, Comedy, Westerns, SciFi & Fantasy, Black Cinema, Action, and Documentaries channels. 

Who’s it great for? Content owners with small libraries, B2B content distributors, independent movie studios, etc.

These channels bear your company’s name or service and house your programming. Examples of branded FAST channels include Cheddar, Crackle, FilmRise Free Movies, Hallmark Movies & More. Unlike theme channels operated by the FAST services, you are responsible for your channel’s operation, which requires an investment in resources and technology.

Who’s it great for? SVOD/AVOD streaming services, digital-first content producers, news organizations, etc.

Considerations when launching your own branded FAST channel

You’ll want to keep in mind two areas when launching your FAST channel: content quality and scheduling. 

Content Quantity - As a reference point, you’ll want to launch with 100-250 hours of content and refresh 10-20 hours of your content each month. When viewers come back to your channel, you don’t want them seeing the same content they’ve seen before.

Scheduling - There are two primary ways of scheduling your programming on a  FAST channel, looped playlists and scheduled. As the name suggests, a looped playlist takes a playlist of on-demand videos and loops them. Although they’re simple to program, looped playlists don’t have the look-and-feel that you’d expect from a traditional TV channel. Scheduled playlists are more involved to schedule but can incite better viewer engagement habits.

How Content Owners can Harness FAST’s Potential

TV[R]EV research estimates that OTT will amass about 25 billion in ad-spend from advertisers by 2025, with FASTs to receive the lion’s share. 

If you are a content distributor considering your FAST channel’s launch, you may be wondering the best way to get started. Zype Playout helps video product teams navigate the challenging linear live broadcasting landscape and grow their distribution footprint across multiple FAST services. 

It also provides an all-encompassing solution to facilitate a FAST streaming solution for companies of all sizes. Playout is a programming, monetization, distribution, and analytics platform with the fastest stream start times in the industry. 

Playout offers workflows for selecting and ordering playlists of videos to create linear channel schedules, scheduling broadcasts, and encoding and packaging linear channels for RTMP or HLS based distribution. SSAI is supported, with integrations available for FreeWheel and Google AdManager.

Zype’s Playout takes the guesswork out of distributing your FAST channels by: 

Start distributing FAST channels today. Talk to our experts.

Free Ad Supported Streaming: Tap Into the Massive Audience Behind the Free TV Movement

FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming): Look deeper into why linear OTT is already the next big thing in ad-supported streaming.

This month Zype released several new product updates including improved tvOS templates and enhanced dynamic parameter options.

Level Up Your App with the Updated Zype tvOS Template

Zype Apple TV applications are programmed in Swift, allowing you the most modern features available to tvOS apps. As part of our commitment to ensure our templates meet the highest quality market standards, we’ve updated our template application to be Swift 5 based, the most recent iteration of the Swift programming language. Enjoy a sleek new top menu design as well as better performance and compatibility with the latest XCode versions. Learn more about the update and review our FAQs here.

Deeper Connectivity for Ad Servers through New Ad Macros on Self-Hosted Content

If you have self-hosted content in your library, you may have leveraged Zype’s ability to generate dynamic URL parameters against self-hosted manifest requests to connect your ad server stack. For example, you may have imported an HLS stream from your existing hosting provider or SSAI server, which might require dynamic information about the user in order to optimize ad fill. 

Now we are offering even more dynamic parameter options that can be used as URL replacements for self-hosted manifests. We’ve added support for app_bundle along with app_domain and device_model, to name a few. View the entire list of supported dynamic manifest parameters and their uses here.

Want to check out more of Zype's latest product updates? Read more here.

Level Up Your Apple TV Apps With Zype's Updated Template

The first half of 2020 saw unprecedented streaming growth. Netflix nears 200 million subscribers, and Disney+ racks up 60 million in record time, there seems to be no end in sight for the streaming wars. As Americans continue to spend the majority of their days at home, more and more time is being spent behind screens. 

We’ve put together a round up of major linear TV and OTT statistics to help you keep up with it all, starting with an overview of the industry.

The OTT industry is growing faster than most people expected. The switch from traditional TV to either an ad-supported or subscription-based streaming service is becoming more and more common, especially in the US. In April alone, there was a 198% increase in OTT traffic. It’s important to note that viewers use multiple devices to consume content. On average, OTT users access video content on three devices across three different OTT services. (OpenX), so both consumer and device level analytics are a must for leaders in the space.

There are over 300 OTT providers in the U.S. ( LemonLight)

As of June 2020, 69.8 million US homes use OTT services. (Comscore)

The top five OTT services by number of subscribers are ( Fox Business)

80% of US homes have at least one Internet-Connected TV device. (Leichtman Research)

68% (up from 47% in 2019) of US Wi-Fi households have an OTT device ( Marketing Charts)

42.2 million OTT households use streaming boxes/sticks, making it the most popular OTT device. (Marketing Charts)

On average, OTT users access video content on three devices across three different OTT services. (OpenX)

According to eMarketer, 55.1 million people will no longer watch traditional pay TV by 2022

Money is to be made and spent in OTT. While there is some apprehension around how many OTT services can realistically coexist, as we just covered, consumers are craving more content and are willing to pay for what they want. This demand is pushing OTT services to spend more, but with the potential to reap some major financial benefits. 

Disney+ is the top spender in OTT content at $27.8 billion spent in 2019. (Variety)

Netflix is second in spending at $15 billion. (Variety)

Global OTT revenues are predicted to grow by $16 billion in 2020 (Media Post) with 40% of consumers willing to spend at least $20 a month on streaming services (Marketing Charts)

OTT ad spend will reach $5 billion in 2020 ( SpotX) and OTT ad revenue is expected to reach over $158 billion by 2024 (Forbes)

Original content is king in the world of OTT. This makes investing in a single, easy-to-use video platform for distributing and monetizing OTT content key. As content production continues to increase over the years, organization of content both on the users end and back-end system will be of the utmost importance.

Amazon Prime is number one in terms of library size with over 63,500 hours of content (Reviews.org). In comparison, Disney+ launched at the end of 2019 with less than 4,000 hours of content. (Screen Rant)

Out of the top 20 most streamed shows in 2019, only one was not on Netflix. ( Forbes)

So far in 2020, the Tiger King docu-series is the number one streamed show on Netflix. (Forbes) and The Mandalorian takes number one for Disney Plus (Business Insider)

In 2019, Netflix release 371 original shows and movies, which is a 54.6% from 2018. (Variety)

Quibi, one of the newest OTT players, is set to release 175 shows by the end of 2020 (Cnet).

It might not come as a surprise that the largest consumers of OTT services are Millennials and Generation Z, but adoption among other age groups continues to grow each year.  In fact, 27 percent of consumers aged 45 and older stream an SVOD service daily. (Forbes)

And it definitely shouldn’t be surprising to see dropping viewing time of traditional TV, as satellite and TV companies lost 6 million customers in 2019, according to Variety. 

An estimated 2 million Americans cut the cord in 2019 (Business Wire).

Average time spent watching OTT video content is set to reach 62 minutes a day this year, which is a 23% increase from 2019 (eMarketer).

Four-fifths of US Consumers have at least one streaming service. (Deloitte)

Consumers are most likely to select their streaming service based on its range of content and are most likely to cancel based on price point (Deloitte).

60% of viewers say that they spend more of their viewing time on an online source over a pay-TV service. (TV Technology)

Aside from Connected TV devices, mobile is leading in terms of video streaming minutes, but desktop saw higher growth year over year. (Comscore)

25 Linear TV & OTT Statistics That Will Shock You (2020 Edition)

Zype's CEO Ed Laczynski joined host Colin Dixon, Founder and Chief Analyst of nScreenMedia, for a conversation about OTT optimization. They discuss what to consider when launching an owned and operated service, the shift toward ad-supported streaming services, how to develop a successful go-to-market video distribution strategy, and more.

Part of the Let's DEW Lunch Webinar Series by Digital Media Wire 

Zype's CEO on DEW Webinar: Optimizing OTT Distribution

Video is an incredible medium to tell human stories, and it becomes more powerful everyday as people continue to stream more and more. Americans alone stream, on average, 8 hours a day, so it goes without saying, video plays a massive role in peoples’ lives. At Zype, we have the unique privilege of helping to spread these stories far and wide by powering the video services of networks like Signal 23.

Signal 23 is an American internet broadcasting television network that publishes a wide range of LGBTQ content. Their subscribers receive exclusive access to a catalogue of movies, TV shows, podcasts, music and more. Since 2016, they have used Zype to distribute their video to their Roku, iOS, and Android apps. They’ve built a loyal audience of thousands that is growing by the day.

Henderson Maddox founded Signal 23 with the purpose of telling the stories that often go untold. As a Black creator and director, he saw first hand how difficult it was to break into the industry, and decided to create his own platform to give a home to the inclusive content he envisioned.

“A large portion of our audience mainly comes from the LGBT community. There are so many lives that are being lived in the dark due to the way the world has treated the community. We tell those stories and give a place for people to be able to see themselves on film.”

Many studies have proven the importance of media representation, especially in marginalized communities that have been disproportionately affected by the lack of such. So many people find solace in the films and shows they watch, and everyone deserves the chance to connect with the stories on the screen in front of them. The connection Signal 23 has built with their audience is abundantly clear.

“Over the years we have received thousands of emails that really expose the impact we have on our audience.”

Signal 23 plans to grow their community of viewers as the network launches on Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV in the coming months. They’re also launching a new website on July 1st using Zype’s WordPress plugin.

“Streaming is the new way of television and we are happy to be at the forefront. Our goal is to reach 10k subscribers by the end of the year and implement bigger marketing strategies to really ensure everyone around the world knows what Signal 23 Television is.”

Zype is proud to support the video services of many different companies, telling many different stories, to people all over the world. The right video infrastructure simplifies distribution, so companies can focus on what’s important: connecting with their viewers through their video.

How Signal 23 is amplifying LGBTQ+ stories through video

A few lines of code to a ready-to-watch video player and stream

Developers can use the Zype Video API to upload video files to the Zype platform, transcode them, and receive back a fully integrated video player and ready-to-watch HLS stream to integrate into websites and applications in just a few lines of code.

In this example, we will show how to upload a file via multipart HTTP POST request, along with additional video metadata.  Zype will automatically transcode the video as soon as the upload completes. We will then show how to get back a fully integrated video player that is ready to embed, as well as a ready-to-watch video stream.

NOTE:  This example is written in ruby and leverages the ‘httpparty` and `json` ruby gems.  Any language is supported that can speak http.

First, you will need a Zype account. If you don’t have one please request one here. You'll need to retrieve your Upload API Key and Player API Keys from the platform from the API Key Settings section.

3. Retrieve your VideoID (from the Upload API call response) 

Now that you’ve uploaded the file, you can start using the unique Video ID

You can do a lot with the video file outside the scope of this article. Learn more in our Dev Center.

 4. Retrieve a Video Player to embed  or a Streaming URL 

For the player_response, you’ll get back a video player that is ready to embed into your website. It will look something like this:

"https://player.zype.com/embed/5de9664fe6ab785e13bc882a.html?api_key=9d376352-1f60-42e3-9f4e-6ffd12fb72eb"

You can also embed using JavaScript, or have the video automatically show up in your OTT or mobile app endpoints.

For playing directly using your own player infrastructure, use the streaming URL. This will be a fully functional HLS Manifest URL  that is ready to attach to any video player on any device. It will look like this:

https://player.zype.com/manifest/5de964dbb2540e5e22945970?api_key=9d376352-1f60-42e3-9f4e-6ffd12fb72eb

This will render a well-formed HLS Manifest that looks something like this:

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=1239040,RESOLUTION=1128x480,CODECS="avc1.4d001f,mp4a.40.2"

https://manifest.zype.com/eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwOi8vdnNtLnp5cGUuY29tLzU2ODJiMGJiNjk3MDJkMmEwYjAwMDAwMC81ZGU5NjRkYmIyNTQwZTVlMjI5NDU5NzAvNWRlOTY0ZGNiMjU0MGU1ZTIyOTQ1OTcxLzVkYzllNjAwZGExNjMxZTMzMGIwOTI1Mi8yYzdkMjQyNS1hYTM5LTRkMjAtYjM5NS03M2YwODljMTQxMjIubTN1OCIsInBhcmFtcyI6eyI2cExLTVEzeSI6IlNxaTNOZzkwIn0sImV4cCI6MTU3NTU5MTU3NX0.XHxjbH_UT5NBQ538sOInKUTptZoVXvLhYVFsRgDeZ48

#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=2793472,RESOLUTION=1692x720,CODECS="avc1.4d001f,mp4a.40.2"

https://manifest.zype.com/eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwOi8vdnNtLnp5cGUuY29tLzU2ODJiMGJiNjk3MDJkMmEwYjAwMDAwMC81ZGU5NjRkYmIyNTQwZTVlMjI5NDU5NzAvNWRlOTY0ZGNiMjU0MGU1ZTIyOTQ1OTcxLzVkYzllNjVhZGExNjMxZTMwODZmNTJkNC9hZTA1NjViNi1jODE4LTRhMjctYTNiZS04NjczMWRjZGE3ODcubTN1OCIsInBhcmFtcyI6eyI2cExLTVEzeSI6IlNxaTNOZzkwIn0sImV4cCI6MTU3NTU5MTU3NX0.PT2917E26tIn4KO3J0NucujQn8RPQMHknWU-A-G1teg

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Free Ad Supported Streaming: Tap Into the Massive Audience Behind the Free TV Movement

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Free Ad Supported Streaming: Tap Into the Massive Audience Behind the Free TV Movement

Level Up Your Apple TV Apps With Zype's Updated Template

25 Linear TV & OTT Statistics That Will Shock You (2020 Edition)

Zype's CEO on DEW Webinar: Optimizing OTT Distribution

How Signal 23 is amplifying LGBTQ+ stories through video

Introduction to the Zype Video API

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